School Governors and School Governing Bodies, as the legal body responsible for their schools, have a duty to ensure that their school adheres to their duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. This page outlines the responsibilities of both the school governing body and the school itself in relation to the Disability Discrimination Act and related legislation. 

Governing Body duties

Part 5A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 requires school governing bodies to:

• Promote equality of opportunity for disabled people: pupils, staff, parents, carers and other people who use the schools or may wish to; 
• Prepare and publish a disability equality scheme to show how they will meet these duties.

This scheme and the accompanying action plans set out how the governing body will promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.

Part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 requires school governing bodies to plan to increase access to education for disabled pupils in three ways:

• Increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum; 
• Improving the environment of the school to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can take advantage of education and associated services; 
• Improving the delivery to disabled pupils of information that is provided in writing for pupils who are not disabled.

Schools� duties under disability discrimination 

The Reasonable Adjustments Duty & Accessibility Plans

Part 4 of the 1995 Act requires that schools and local authorities must not treat disabled students less favourably without justification and must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that they are not disadvantaged compared to their peers.

Schools and local authorities must also plan strategically to increase access to school buildings and the curriculum over time. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 requires schools to produce an accessibility plan detailing how they will do this. 

For further information on Part 4 see the Disability Discrimination Act and SEN duties document linked in the Attachments section.
 
The Disability Equality Duty

The Disability Equality Duty places on all schools a general duty, when carrying out their functions to have due regard to the need to: 

• promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people 
• eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as subsequently amended) 
• eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability 
• promote positive attitudes towards disabled people 
• encourage participation by disabled people in public life 
• take steps to meet disabled people�s needs, even if this requires more favourable treatment.

The Disability Equality Duty includes an important duty to have regard to the need to eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability. Schools therefore need to tackle the bullying of children with SEN and disabilities as part of complying with this part of the Disability Equality Duty. The Department has published guidance entitled Bullying Involving Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities: Safe to Learn- Embedding anti-bullying work in schools. The publication is available to order or download on TeacherNet�s Online Publications website. Alternatively, call 0845 6022260 and quote reference number DCSF-00372-2008 to order a copy.

In addition to the general duty, schools also have a specific duty requiring them to demonstrate how they are meeting the general duty. Effectively, the general duty informs schools of what they have to do; the specific duty sets out how schools have to do it and what they need to record as evidence of what they have done.

The main requirements of the specific duty are to: 

• prepare and publish a disability equality scheme 
• involve disabled people in the development of the scheme 
• implement the scheme 
• report on progress annually and amend where necessary.

It is important to note the key difference between accessibility plans and disability equality scheme � they are not the same thing. Schools should have separate plans for how they are going to (a) increase access to the school and to the curriculum over time and (b) demonstrate how they are meeting their Disability Equality Duty. Further information is available in the Disability Discrimination Act and SEN duties document linked in the Attachments section below.

Guidance

The resource tool Implementing the Disability Discrimination Act in schools and early years settings was produced by the Department in conjunction with third sector organisations. The pack contains interactive guidance and case studies that aid schools� compliance with disability discrimination legislation. Copies of the guidance can be ordered or downloaded from TeacherNet�s Online Publications website. Alternatively, call 0845 6022260 and quote reference number 0160-2006DOC-EN to order a copy. This resource can only be ordered by schools and voluntary organisations and you can do this online. Extracts from the guidance can be viewed on TeacherNet.